Combined elevator cage and scale.



W. M. GRONK, Jn. COMBINED ELEVATOR GAGE AND scum;-

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 8, 1910.

Patented Jan. 30, 1912.

WESLEY MORTIMER CRONK, JR, OF WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK.

COMBINED ELEVATOR CAGE AND SCALE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 30,1912.

Application filed December 8, 1910. Serial No. 596,351.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, VVESLEY MORTIMER CRoNK, Jr., a citizen of the United States, residing at lVhite Plains, in the county of WVestchester and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improve ments in Combined Elevator-Cages and Scales, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to elevators, and more particularly to a combined elevator car and scale, the entire floor of the car itself constituting the scale platform, which in the preferred embodiment of my invention is effected by connecting the elevator rope or cable to a lever which operates the scale. The construction in question eliminates the liability of erroneous determination of weights carried by the car or cage since by no possibility can a portion of the mass to be weighed be positioned off of the scale platform if such mass has been placed within the cage, or is raised by the elevator.

Other objects of my invention will be hereinafter referred to and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof and in which like reference characters designate like parts throughout the several views: Figure 1 shows, somewhat diagrammatically, one form of my combined elevator car and scale. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary detail of a modification of a portion thereof.

Referring to Fig. 1, the elevator guide rails have been therein designated 1 and the cage or car platform 2. Uprights 3, which extend upwardly from the platform may be connected by a suitable cross member 4: so that parts 2, 3, and 4 may form the frame and body of the elevator car. Guide wheels 5 or the like are mounted on the car and are adapted for engagement with the rails in the usual manner. I prefer to provide guide wheels in preference to shoes, since the device is thereby rendered more sensitive to changes in the weight which it carries. The cross member or beam 4 carries a suitable bracket 6 to which is pivoted an L-shaped lever 7. The elevator cable 8 is pivotally or otherwise suitably connected at 9 to this lever, the pivotal point 9 being relatively adjacent to the pivot 10 by which the lever is pivoted to the bracket. This lever is adapted to be oscillated or swung up and down, and the free end thereof may ride in a suitable guide 11. A a rod or link 12 depends from the free end of the lever 7 and carries a suitable ring 13, or the like, at the bottom of which is a suitable knife edge 1 1 adapted to the purpose in question. This knife edge is in engagement with a scale beam 15, which beam is pivotally mounted, preferably upon knife edges 16 and 17 in the usual manner. The scale beam maybe of any proper construction, and may be graduated as at 18 and adapted to carry slidable weights 19; and it preferably has depending from the free extremity thereof the usual weight supporting rod 20, which is adapted to carry weights 21, as in any ordinary form of scale. The beam may also carry a suitable contact making device, such as the resilient finger 22, which is adapted to make electrical contact with a screw 23, or the like, and a battery 24 and electric bell 25 are mounted upon the car and respectively connected by suitable wires to the contact 23 and to a suitable binding post 26 which is in electrical connection with the contact 22; said battery, contact parts and bell being arranged in series. The knife edges 16 and 17 are mounted upon a suitable bracket 27 which may be secured to the floor of the car.

In operation the floor of the car actually forms the scale platform and the weights are adjusted upon the scale beam to counter-balance the weight ofthe unloaded car. When goods are placed upon the car platform the cable 8 is obviously placed under increased tension which tends to raise the free end of the lever 7 and thereby displaces the scale beam 15. In order that the latter may be brought back to zero position, which position is indicated by the pointer 28 carried upon a laterally projecting arm 29 of the bracket 27, the weights 19 may be moved outwardly away from the pivotal point of the beam for additional weights 21 must be placed upon the rod 20, or both.

The invention of course does not reside in the particular arrangement of the scale beam, but I do regard as novel the provision of a lever which is directly attached to a portion of the car and connected to the elevator cable or the like, such lever sustaining the weight of the car, and being in turn connected to the scale beam, thereby obviating the necessity for providing a scale platform distinct from the car. It is obvious that by thus making the car itself form the scale platform, the construction is greatly simplified and the cost of the entire device is thereby reduced. Further than this, however, the possibility of having a portion of the weight which is placed in the cage partly carried by the car or cage and partly by the scale platform when the latter is distinct from the former as in constructions heretofore employed, is obviated, since the entire car or cage platform in this case is the scale platform.

Various modifications of my invention may be made within the scope of theappended claims, and in Fig. 2 I have shown one such modification in which in place of a weighted scale beam a spring is used, the link 12 being replaced by a rod 31 which carries a collar 32 adapted to compress the said spring against a suitable bracket 33 which may be mounted upon the cross beam 4. The lower extremity of the rod 31 in thisinstance carries a suitable pointer 34: which is adapted to cooperate with a scale 35 mounted in a casing 36. In this case the lever 7 acts in precisely the same manner as it does in the first described form of device, and the upward movement of the free end of such lever serves to compress the spring 30 and the extent of such compression is shown by the movement of the pointer 34 over the scale 35. Suitable contact making devices, such as the parts 22, 23, together with a battery and bell or other signaling device may be provided in connection with any form of the device, and the provision of such parts is intended to call the attention of the car operator to the fact that a determined load has been placed upon the elevator. For example, in practice, the scale might be adjusted for a weight of five hundred pounds and when small bags, or the like, of material have been placed upon the elevator platform in sufiicient quantity to attain this weight, the scale beam, if the form of device shown in Fig. 1 be used, will rise and contact will be made between the parts 22 and 23 causing the bell 25 to ring.

Having described my invention, what I claim, is:

1. In a combined elevator and scale, an elevator car, elevator guide rails between which said car is adapted to run, a supporting elevator cable, a lever pivotally connected to a portion of said car and carried thereby, a scale beam, connections between the free end of said lever and the scale beam carried by said car, and means whereby the supporting elevator cable may be connected to said lever.

2. In a combined elevator and scale, a car having a platform, a supporting cable, a lever pivotally connected to a portion of said car and carried thereby, the supporting cable being connected to said lever, a member movable by said lever, and scale mechanism cooperating with said member for indicating the weight carried by the entire platform of the car.

3. In combination, a scale comprising an elevator car, the car itself constituting the platform of said scale, a part by which said car may be raised and lowered, a pivotally mounted lever connected to a portion of said car, said lever being carried by said car said part being connected to said lever, and a member movably by said lever cooperating with said scale for indicating the weight carried by said car.

In witness whereof, I subscribe my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

WESLEY MORTIMER CRONK, JR.

WVitnesses W'ILLIAM G. BARRETT,

GEO. HOYT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each. by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

